Skip to content

Q: Beamdog Mobile - Moving Beamdog games to SD storage to play, or as a backup.

EternicusEternicus Member Posts: 4
in General Discussion (Spoiler Warning!)
I'm looking for a LEGAL way to move BG (and all mobile Beamdog games) to my SD card, hopefully still playable, or if not at least as a backup. Please don't suggest anything illegal, I'm not interested in that kind of things!

I have 16 GB of local storage on my phone/tablet and about 30% is being taken by bloatware. My 128 Gb SD card is pretty useless because I'm unable to move app/game content from local, even though Android (7) gives the option to move to SD storage. It just pretends to move but the files are still on local and SD content are empty folders.

Only 2 games I own succesfully move (almost 100% of the data) and still remain playable: Bard's Tale and Devil Stone.

I'd love to have a functioning BG1/2/SoD, NWN, Torment, IWD on my SD but that is not going to happen I'm afraid. This means I have to redownload these games many times when I'd like to try a newly bought game because I'm too low on storage space.

Is there a way to move Beamdog's games to SD storage, and copy it back to local storage when I want to play? I tried but Google Play/device won't recognize the game anymore when I do.
I thought GPlay was like Steam: You download a game or restore a backup, Steam it checks if you really own the game and allows you start it. Why can we restore purchases in apps but not restore a game? GPlay makes it so complicated.

Any advice (except for buying a new phone, or git gud ;-) )?

- Eternicus

Comments

  • JuliusBorisovJuliusBorisov Member, Administrator, Moderator, Developer Posts: 22,754
    We looked into that during the road to 2.5. The maximum this engine allows (without breaking the game) is moving the .exe to an SD card (which you can do).
  • GusindaGusinda Member Posts: 1,917
    Hi @Eternicus, I have been doing this my games.

    I install one, setup any mods I want, then copy the .Obbs (and .Obbs folder) to a designated backup area on the Ext SDCard (ie: /ExtSDCard/GamesBackup/BG1EE) . Don't use the same path on the SDCard even though it may be there. I then delete the .Obbs on the internal Card. Make sure you delete the .Obbs only, I leave the folder in place, and don't move the .obbs, must be copy and delete. Install the next and repeat etc. My phone only has 16GB ('only' hehe) and have a 64GB Ext SDCard as its mate.

    I don't touch the games where their .obbs have been deleted and know not to touch it as the start icon is only in the 'all apps' folder, not on the games screen (I setup one of the custom screens as Games only). I add only the games icon being played to the Games screen. If you do accidentally open the game, it will try and re-download the .obbs. If this happens, from experience you can restart the phone to stop the download, then copy your .obbs into place and restart the game.

    When I want to play a different game, I copy the relevant .Obbs to their folder. Add the game icon to the games screen and play. If requried, delete the .Obbs from the previous game.

    I leave all the games' Data folders and files in place. They don't take too much room and I normally have my mods setup there anyway.

    Hopefully this isn't too confusing. If it is, let me know and I can break it down with folder paths etc.

    All the best
    Gus
  • EternicusEternicus Member Posts: 4
    JuliusBorisov wrote: »
    We looked into that during the road to 2.5. The maximum this engine allows (without breaking the game) is moving the .exe to an SD card (which you can do).

    Ty for the reply, but I searched my BG1 install on my phone and it only has two .OBB files.
    Yesterday I made a similar named path/folders on my SD and copied these OBB files to it, and then deleting the OBBs in local storage, but keeping the (now empty) folder intact. I hoped it would recognize the folder/files on my SD but it didn't.

    It's weird, Android app setting gives the option to move BG1 content to SD (not all games have this). If you choose to do so, it shows a progress bar, like it's working on moving the files to SD and it takes awhile to finish, but in truth nothing is transferred at all. Android says the full 100% data is on SD now, but it's still on local.
  • EternicusEternicus Member Posts: 4
    Gusinda wrote: »
    Hi @Eternicus, I have been doing this my games.

    I install one, setup any mods I want, then copy the .Obbs (and .Obbs folder) to a designated backup area on the Ext SDCard (ie: /ExtSDCard/GamesBackup/BG1EE) . Don't use the same path on the SDCard even though it may be there. I then delete the .Obbs on the internal Card. Make sure you delete the .Obbs only, I leave the folder in place, and don't move the .obbs, must be copy and delete. Install the next and repeat etc. My phone only has 16GB ('only' hehe) and have a 64GB Ext SDCard as its mate.

    I don't touch the games where their .obbs have been deleted and know not to touch it as the start icon is only in the 'all apps' folder, not on the games screen (I setup one of the custom screens as Games only). I add only the games icon being played to the Games screen. If you do accidentally open the game, it will try and re-download the .obbs. If this happens, from experience you can restart the phone to stop the download, then copy your .obbs into place and restart the game.

    When I want to play a different game, I copy the relevant .Obbs to their folder. Add the game icon to the games screen and play. If requried, delete the .Obbs from the previous game.

    I leave all the games' Data folders and files in place. They don't take too much room and I normally have my mods setup there anyway.

    Hopefully this isn't too confusing. If it is, let me know and I can break it down with folder paths etc.

    All the best
    Gus

    Thank you :) I will try this tomorrow!
Sign In or Register to comment.

2024 Overhaul Games, a division of Beamdog. © 2024 Hasbro, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Baldur's Gate, Dungeons & Dragons, D&D, Forgotten Realms, Baldur's Gate, Wizards of the Coast and their logos are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast LLC in the U.S.A. and other countries, and are used with permission. Hasbro and its logo are trademarks of Hasbro, Inc. and are used with permission. © 1998 BioWare Corp. All Rights Reserved. BioWare, the BioWare Infinity Engine and the BioWare logo are trademarks of Bioware Corp. Black Isle Studios and the Black Isle Studios logo are trademarks of Interplay Entertainment Corp. Atari and the Atari logo are trademarks owned by Atari Interactive, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.